1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle equipped with a leanable body frame and two front wheels.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vehicle described in, for example, International Patent Publication No. 2012/007819 includes a body frame and two front wheels that are arranged side by side in a left-right direction of the body frame.
The vehicle includes a linkage. The linkage is disposed above the two front wheels. The linkage changes positions of the two front wheels relative to the body frame to cause the body frame to lean to the left or right of the vehicle.
The linkage includes an upper cross member, a lower cross member, a left side member and a right side member. The upper cross member is connected to the body frame so as to turn about an upper intermediate connecting axis. The lower cross member is connected to the body frame so as to turn about a lower intermediate connecting axis. A left portion of the upper cross member is connected to an upper portion of the left side member so as to turn about an upper left connecting axis. A right portion of the upper cross member is connected to an upper portion of the right side member so as to turn about an upper right connecting axis. A left portion of the lower cross member is connected to a lower portion of the left side member so as to turn about a lower left connecting axis. A right portion of the lower cross member is connected to a lower portion of the right side member so as to turn about a lower right connecting axis.
There is a desire to increase a leaning angle (a so-called banking angle) of the body frame toward the left or right of the vehicle. In the case of the vehicle described in International Patent Publication No. 2012/007819, however, a configuration is used which prevents the banking angle from exceeding a predetermined value by bringing a portion of the upper cross member and a portion of the lower cross member into abutment with each other. Consequently, in order to increase the banking angle, a distance between the upper cross member and the lower cross member (a distance between the upper intermediate connecting axis and the lower intermediate connecting axis) needs to be increased.
However, in consideration of the necessity of avoiding the interference with the front wheels that are displaced upwards or downwards and the necessity of disposing a steering force transmission between the lower cross member and the two front wheels, it becomes difficult to change the position of the lower cross member so as to be disposed farther downwards. On the other hand, in a case where the position of the upper cross member is changed to be disposed farther upwards, it is inevitable that the size of the vehicle is enlarged. For these reasons it is difficult to ensure a relatively large banking angle.